O'Leary back on gridiron with UCF

ORLANDO -- One moment, George O'Leary blows quickly into his whistle, then, in his polite way, tells a new group of assistant coaches to get out of the way and let a scrimmage continue.

"We're getting this on tape! We can correct later!"

A moment later, his whistle sounds again. It's the same sound as those made by a half-dozen referees brought into for a recent scrimmage, but O'Leary's University of Central Florida players stand still. They recognize it's him blowing, not somebody in a striped uniform.

"Run it again," O'Leary barks.

Having detected an errant cut by tailback Dontavius Wilcox, O'Leary makes a brief point to the redshirt sophomore and sends him back into the fray for another tough goal-line run.

Minutes later, the Golden Knights' two-hour scrimmage is done.

O'Leary is just getting warmed up.

"How would you grade your team so far?" asks a television reporter.

"I don't grade after one week," the coach said. "How would you like it if I graded you after one week?"

Later, a similar question comes. How would the coach evaluate his team so far?

"You already asked that and I told you I don't do that," O'Leary said. "Anything else?"

Nearly two decades after another former NFL coach, Lou Saban, directed UCF's football program, O'Leary on Tuesday finishes up his first spring back as a college coach after a year away from football and two seasons with the Minnesota Vikings.

The Knights' 15th spring practice is scheduled as an unceremonious affair; no spring game was scheduled because of a limited number of healthy (and academically fit) players.

Still, with a laborer's long hours and a minute chewing-tobacco stain at the corner of his mouth, the man works as if only a heart attack could slow him down.

"That's absolutely true," said defensive line coach Peter McCarty, who worked under O'Leary as a graduate assistant at Syracuse and again as defensive tackles coach at Georgia Tech. "I'll leave it at that."

"I'm fine," said O'Leary, who had a mild heart attack Dec. 31 just after saying goodbye to the Vikings and just before leaving for Orlando. "I've done everything the doctors have told me to do, but you know me. I'm not going to change. You gotta do what you gotta do."

Doctors prescribed regular exercise for the 57-year-old, and he sticks to a regimen of walking. Doctors scheduled another checkup for July, a stress test.

Everyone else's stress test is in full gear. From secretaries to players to coaches to administrators, O'Leary nudges all involved with his program just beyond a comfort zone. King George demands, and he usually gets. Some of what former coach Mike Kruczek grew weary of asking for, O'Leary received during his first four months on the job: a 30-foot steel tower between practice fields, a privacy fence around the fields, an upgraded digital video system.

The new coach also added his personal favorites: two 25-second clocks posted at opposite ends of the field. They literally are the time of players' lives.

O'Leary gave his practice timer explicit instructions to start the clock anew as soon as the previous play ends, so UCF's practice pace is quicker than any game will be.

"Something new happens every 25 seconds," guard Dan Veenstra said.

Fast feet and fast minds eventually win, is the coach's theory.

Coaches endure, too. A year ago at LSU, defensive coordinator Lance Thompson could go to practice wearing sunglasses and a hat, customary accessories for a football coach working in the sun. Not now.

At practice, sunglasses and hats are forbidden for all staffers, including trainers, equipment managers and strength coaches.

Thompson and others cope. "Sunscreen," he said.

Just as in December when he tossed out Kruczek's staff's recruiting evaluations and tips, O'Leary trusts only his systems and thoughts.

With 16 players on academic probation, O'Leary removed four of them from spring drills. When the team practices, they spend that time in study hall.

"Things are done a certain way. Expectations are a certain way, and everybody understands that," said Thompson, who also worked under O'Leary at Georgia Tech. "You're either in the circle or out of the circle. You'll either do it his way, do it right, or you won't be around. Don't look around thinking it's going to change, because it's not."

What UCF Athletic Director Steve Orsini saw during a recent scrimmage was exactly what he had hoped to see. People on the field moved quickly and constantly. Later, he gleaned that, with the exception of two returning players who decided before spring not to return, the Knights have bought into their new coach.

"I was hopeful of that, and I'm happy to see that happening," Orsini said. "George is a leader."

Said O'Leary: "The players have done everything we've asked of them. We've asked them to work harder and faster and they've done that. We need to help them now by bringing in better players to put around them."

Little escapes him. He expects the same from his players. One of his rules: Players not participating in an 11-on-11 drill are expected to know what's being run on their side of the ball.

Not knowing, especially if a player loses his attention span for a couple moments and O'Leary sees it behind him--yep, behind him--risks a blown whistle and a query from the white-haired Irishman.

If the answer is wrong, everybody runs a wind sprint.

When a 5-minute bullhorn sounds to signal a drill change, if his players don't move fast enough, O'Leary sends them back to the previous drill to try a quicker transition.

"They've got to understand what work ethic is all about," McCarty said. "We've got to prepare to win."

On Friday after his team's penultimate spring practice, O'Leary spotted an academic advisor greeting one of his players.

"How's he doing?" the coach asked.

Satisfied with the answers, he nodded and turned to the player.

"Do what you're supposed to do," he said. "It's important."

Besides, there's little alternative.

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(c) 2004, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).

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